Improved method of producing diagonal cloth



UNITED STATES ROBERT O. HELM, OF NEW PATENT OFFICE.

BRUN SlVIOK, NEV JERSEY.

IMPROVED METHOD OF PRODUCING DIAGONALCLOTH.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 34,960, dated April 15,1862.

To all whom, it may con/cern,.-

Be it known that I, ROBERT C. HELM, of the city of New Brunswick, in thecounty of Middlesex and State of New Jersey, have invented a certain newand useful Method of Preparing or Producing what is known as DiagonalCloth, (or cloth having the thread of the warps placed in a positiondiagonal to the threads of the weft,such as was patented in GreatBritain by John Healey, November 17, 1846,) of which the following`isafull, clear, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, which make part of this specification, and inwhich- Figure l represents a view in elevation of one side of a machinefor preparing the cloth, embracing my improvements; and Fig. 2represents a plan or top View of the same.

My invention relates to an im pro ved method of preparingcloth woven inthe usual manner, so that the threads of the warp shall occupy adiagonal position relative to those of` the weft by winding the clothfrom one roller upon another; and to this end my improvement consists inthe use of two rollers arranged in a suitable frame, one of whichrollers is placed with its axis at an angle greater or less than a rightangle with respect to the other; or two parallel rollers may beeniployed when the clot-h or fabric the direction of whose threads is tobe changed is so arranged that the edge of the fabric is oblique to therollers when passing from one to the other.

The accompanying drawings represent a convenient arrangement of partsfor carrying out the object of my invention.

In this instance the machine is shown as consisting of a stout frame A,upon which a roller B is mounted. One end of this roller revolves in aswiveling bearing L, while the other turns in a box K. This boxtraverses in a curved slot O in the frame, and may be held in anydesired position by a set-screw or other equivalent device. By thismeans the angle of the roller B with respect to the frame may readily bevaried. A frictionpulley D is secured upon the traversing end of theroller B, over which pulley a frictionstrap E passes. One end of thisstrap is attached to a pin e on the'frame, while aweight WV is attachedto the other in the manner shown in the drawings, or in some equivalentway which will allow the strap to yield when the strain upon the rollerexceeds a given force.

A roller O is arranged at right angles to the side timbers of the frameand turns in fixed bearings therein. This roller receives the cloth F asit is unwound from the diagonal roller, and may be provided with twoflanges M, which guide the fabric and keep its edges even. They may be4made adjustable, if desired. The roller C is driven by a band G,encircling a pulley N upon one of its ends and a pulley on a cone shaftor pulley I. Two of these cone-pulleys are provided in order to vary thespeed of the drawing-roller C, as its diameter is increased by thewinding of the cloth upon it.

The mechanism may be driven by a crank or wrist pin on the pulley J, orin any other convenient manner. i

For convenience of operation I form the rollers B and O of shells orcylinders, which can readily be slipped ou or oif theirrespectiveshafts, the ends of which are so arranged that they may readily bedetached from their bearings, by which means the shells can be removedfrom the shaft when the direction of the threads of the fabric has beensuiciently changed or for the purpose of changing the cloth back againfrom the drawing-roller to the diagonal roller in case one windingshould fail to produce the desired eifect in a suicient degree. Onerolling will generally be found suincient when the direction of thethreads requires to be but slightly changed; but when a great change ofangle is required several rollings may be necessary, the angle attainedat one rolling depending in a great degree upon the closeness of thetexture of the fabric.

The operation of the machineis as follows: I take a piece of the fabricthe relative position or direction of whose threads I wish to change, ora piece in which the position of the threads has already partially beenchanged, or a piece woven in such manner that the threads of the warpand weft are oblique to each other, but not sufficiently inclined oruniform enough for the purpose required, and wind or place it on thedelivering or changeable roller B, the movabley end of which is thenadjusted by means of the curved slot O until the roller forms an angleof about tell degrees with the drawing-roller C, and secure ric is veryopen, in which case I increase the angle formed by the delivering-rollerB as much as is desired, so as to effect the necessary change ofdirection in the threads at one operation or rolling. Itis immaterial,of course, which end of the roller is made movable. I then attach onecorner of the end of the fabric to the drawing-roller C by gumming,pasting, or tacking it on, in any manner most convenient to theoperator, in such manner that one of the edges may be near one of theflanges M; or the flange may be adjusted to the cloth, if preferred. Therelative arrangement ofthe several parts and the mode of securing thecloth to the roller is clearly shown in -Fig. 2 of the drawings. Owingto this arrangement, when rotary motion `is imparted to thedrawing-roller'C, thefabric is gradually unwound' from thedeliveringroller Bl and wound upon the rollerO. As the fabric is onlyattached by one corner, when the roller C begins to turn it draws orstrains upon `.one edge of the fabric much more than Vupon the other,vthus causing the threads to vassume the diagonal position shown in Fig.2 of the drawings. After the cloth is wound upon the roller C thechanging of the direction of the threads ceases, but they retain thediagonal position assumed in passing from the delivering to the drawingroller. IfV the direction of the threads is `not sufficientlyl` changedby the first rolling, I change the relative positions of the rollers Band C or their` respective shells, as the case may be, and rev peat theprocess as often as may be found nec- V g essary, thoughA it will befound `that one or` tWo'r-ollings will c'ausea change suflicientforalmost any practical purpose.

The adjustable ianges M- are intended to prevent the lateral spreadingof the fabric during the rolling and to assist it to run more evenly outhe roller; but their use is not es.- sential.

The two cone-pulleys I serve to regulate the speed of the drawing-rollerC by shifting the belt H right or left, as may be required, 1 tocompensate for the increasing diameter of the roll of cloth upon theroller C, upon which it is being Wound.

Itis obvious that, were no compensating device employed, as the diameterof the rollincreased the cloth would be wound upon the- Healeys methodof Weaving, hereinbefore mentioned, is practically a very difficult andexpensive one: rst, because the looms adapted by him for the manufactureof such cloth are very complex in construction, and are required to beof much greater length than the looms used'for Weaving ordinarycloth,'and therefore require more space in which to operate, and,secondly, on account of the great length of the sley in proportion tothe width of the fabric, the loom is deficient in iirmness and solidity,which qualit-ies are essential to the proper productiveness of the loom.Moreover, it is scarcely practicable to produce from such a loom twopieces of' diagonal cloth with their threads at different angles ascompared with each other without an almost total change in all itsmovements, whereas by my method it only requires thefproper adjustmentof the oblique roller B toproduce a .change to almost any given angle.This adjustment, moreover, in my machine may readily be eected evenWhile it is in operation, and it is therefore practicable for-me toproduce from a piece of common. cloth a piece of diagonal cloth, the twoends of which may have their threads changed t'o dierent angles shouldsuch be required.Y The other mode described by said Healey of attach-ingthe edges of the cloth to parallel bars isa tedious, laborious, andexpensive one. Moreover, it is impracticable to produce a piece ofdiagonal cloth of any great length Vby this method, its length beingnecessarily. restricted to that of the bars, whereas by my method it ispracticable to produce diagonal cloth of any desired length rapidly,cheaply, and with threads of uniform inclination.

This diagonalcloth is veryextensively used in the manufacture of elasticgoods of indiarubber by placing a sheet of' rubber between two pieces ofcloth. It is also used' for the liningv of india-rubber shoes and forother purposes.

I do not claim, broadly, under this patent the production ofi-diagonalcloth itself, asthe `same is described in Letters Patentgranted i `tosaid' Healey'in Great Britain November 17, .1846, and in the UnitedStates December 18,

l1855, and is therefore well known; but

' What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is-

The method herein described of preparing or producing what is known asdiagonal cloth (or cloth in which the threads of the warp and weft arecaused to occupy a position diagonal to each other) by the use of tworollers, one of .which is placed obliquely to to the other, orby the useof two parallel rollers, whenv the cloth passes from one to the Votherin an oblique direction, substantially in the manner described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

ROBERT o. HELM. [L s] In presence of WM. A. NEWELL, y H. A. HULL.

